Lethargic, poopy butt, hen w/ tail down

I noticed yesterday that my 1 year old Americauna is quite lethargic, she has a poopy butt, is not eating a lot, and has her tail down. I don't think she is laying. I did think she was broody the other day because she would not get out of the nest, but now that she's acting different, I'm not so sure. She used to be the top girl of the group, now she is not hanging with her girls anymore. It's been SUPER hot here in Maine - we broke record temps yesterday 100.

I did notice a lot of flies in the coop so I changed out the litter and put in new pine shavings and I gave the hens yogurt before going to work today. I don't know if she ate it. I don't have a clue what to do?

You need to get her to drink lots of water, even putting her beak into it. Put some ice in their water a couple of times a day, offer some cold watermelon if you have any (they love it.) Make sure she has shade and perhaps a fan in the coop or run to cool her. If her symptoms don't improve after that, maybe she's sick wth one of the many chicken diseases, but hopefully she will improve with cooling down a bit.

The weather is probably your best bet. If it's been that hot, a chicken can get run-down pretty quickly. Eggcessive gave good information on how to help your chickens beat the heat.

Another thing you might want to consider is crop trouble. Often it will give the chicken the exact symptoms you described. They just don't feel like eating and the rest of their body suffers because of it.

To check the crop, feel the front of her chest. Off to one side should be the crop, you'll know it when you feel it. Is it soft and squishy? Or hard and packed? Take note on how full it is when she goes to bed at night, and in the morning check it again. If it hasn't emptied or gone down during the night, she probably has a problem.

I've tried to check her vent for maggots but she keeps getting away from me - good I think because she is moving faster. She ate the watermelon and her tail is up today. It's also 20 degrees cooler today. I'll check her crop and vent tonight when she gets in the coop.